There's a particularly striking letter from Ted Hughes to his sister, written in June 1957 as he and his wife Sylvia are crossing the Atlantic to spend a year or so in America. What makes it jump out from the general run of his correspondence at this time in his life is that it strikes the first notes of some kind of criticism of Sylvia, though the notes are highly defensive with TH defending aspects of her character to his sister: Don't judge her on her awkward behaviour, he tells Olwyn, amongst other things. Following the overwhelmingly positive stuff relating to Plath that has dominated the letters to this point it comes as something of an awkward surprise to the reader of the selected letters to realise that the picture perfect marriage is beginning to show signs of wear and tear despite the complacent certainty of May 1957 that Marriage is my medium.
What went wrong? You need to read two great, great writers on the subject in both intense poetry and prose to begin to shape an understanding. And even then answers will escape you as answers escaped them both. To leave the pain of it all. Marvelously expressed, but at a terrible price.
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